Only Syrian government, nation truly fighting ISIL: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mimi al-Laham, a Syrian activist and political commentator in Australia, to investigate the death of about 200 ISIL terrorists during airstrikes by the Syrian government across the war-torn country.

This is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: About 200 ISIL terrorists have been killed today in Syria according to reports. What does this tell us?

Al-Laham: It tells us that Syria still has air supremacy over ISIS (ISIL) and over the entire country of Syria and they basically strategically withdrew from Palmyra and let ISIS basically take more land they could keep and immediately sortie [with] planes in order to do its airstrikes and the strategy behind that is just to save manpower and to prevent our soldiers being unnecessarily killed.

So, meanwhile, if you compare the US, who claims to be striking and fighting ISIS, they were unable to stop the advances on Palmyra and over the entirety of al-Anbar Province; so again it highlights the fact that the Syrian government, country and people are the ones who are truly fighting the ISIS while the US is basically allowing ISIS to grow and helping it to grow in order to achieve geopolitical goals.

Press TV: Many say ISIL is product of the USA and of course some regional countries in the Middle East. How likely would these terrorist go back home and roost and cause terror back at home?

Al-Laham: Well, the countries that they are coming from are trying to now protect themselves from the scenario by not stopping them from going to Syria but trying to prevent them from coming back and it just shows you the double standard because three years ago, these are the same kind of terrorists that the Western nations, and NATO and the US were supporting; of course they are going to be due [to] return and due [to] cause problems as we saw several terrorist attacks – one one happened recently in Australia; but I believe the governments feels that these kinds of attacks can be useful in order to take the freedom and the rights of people away further.

Press TV: what is your opinion about how the West describes some of these terrorists and militants as “moderate” and talking to them? What’s your opinion about this?

Al-Laham: It’s of course been a lie since the beginning. The use of the word “moderate” because they cannot use the word “secular,” they could not use something that is actually tangible, because moderate compared to what? Moderate compared to al-Qaeda can be still quite extreme and indeed these militants have now completely sided with either ISIS or Jabhat al-Nusra, and this has been admitted by the former ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford.

So, I think that the people who are continuing to call them moderate have not received the memo yet that the US now has shifted its narrative and decided to be more honest about the real identity of the insurgents.

Press TV: And finally, what can be done to tackle this menace called ISIL?

Al-Laham: I think there is only one solution and that is to stop people funding ISIS and growing ISIS because basically they have an infinite number of brainwashed individuals, young people that they are using as cannon fodder and sending to destroy Syria and Iraq; and without the source of the money and the power of ISIS, which are the [Persian] Gulf states and Turkey and under the… of the United States, it going to be a continuing war, a perpetual war, and that is unfortunately what some in the US want and have stated is going to be the future of Syria.

HRM/HJL

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